If there is one thing that is clear to me, it is that when it comes to the Nintendo Wii many 3rd party companies have seen the console as a gold mine for peripherals. Now this is both a good and bad thing, as there have been some innovative peripheral releases, but along with the good there has been a boat load of bad too. Nyko has been making peripherals for consoles for quite some time, and their efforts have also been focused on the Wii. For me personally, their products for Nintendo’s innovative home console are generally very good. Recently we got a chance to take a close look at their Wand Action Pak, which includes the innovative Wand controller, a sleeve for the Wand, and a light gun attachment for the Wand. After spending some time with these peripherals I have to say that once again I am impressed with the effort that Nyko has put forth.

Nyko’s Wand garnered a lot of attention back at CES 2009 when it was unveiled. The funny thing is that as I write this review CES 2010 is in full swing and Nyko is once again unveiling products. The Wand is basically a replacement for Nintendo’s own Wii Remote. Although there are many similarities to Nintendo’s own controller, one cannot miss the differences as well. From the larger and square A, 1 and 2 buttons to the rubberized battery compartment and textured B button (trigger), all these differences seem to make for a better controller. Personally I like the bigger and square buttons given that they just felt more intuitive and, believe it or not, easier to press without looking. I figure these buttons will be easier for the little ones too given how I found their placement and size. Trust me, play a game like Excitebike: World Rally (WiiWare) where you hold the Wand horizontally and you will see what I mean. And for those wondering, the Wand is compatible Nintendo’s own Nunchuk as well as the MotionPlus accessory that was released in June of 2009.

The biggest innovation of the Wand is what Nyko has deemed as Trans-Port technology. To put it simply, the Wand is able to digitally transmit various commands (e.g. rumble or buttons) to another device. So instead of having the controller having to click into various other peripherals and have the trigger or buttons literally be accessed through a combination of springs and other buttons, the Wand just transmits the use of these commands to the device itself allowing for a seamless transition. Pretty impressive indeed.

Given the advent of this new Trans-Port technology, Nyko has bundled the Wand with a new light gun attachment in the Wand Action Pak. This pack clearly demonstrates that innovativeness of this new technology. This light gun attachment is known as the Pistol Grip which the Wand fits snugly into. After spending some time shooting at my TV, I was left with the impression that I have never played with such a great wireless light gun home until now. I spent the majority of my review time playing the two most recently released light gun games for the Wii, The House of the Dead: Overkill and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Both of these games have you shooting a whole lot of zombies, and in the case of the latter, some very creative monsters.

Overall there were no tracking issues nor was there any hit detection issues as I created some virtual shooting mayhem. If anything I felt that my accuracy with this peripheral was improved over any other light gun peripheral I have used on the Wii in the past and that even includes Nyko’s first Wii light gun peripheral the Perfect Shot. I reviewed the Perfect Shot in August 2008 and it was a hit in my books. Well the new Wand and Pistol Grip is even better. Enemies never stood a chance using this new combination. The whole Trans-Port technology is truly magic as the Pistol Grip’s trigger took the role of the Wand’s B button via the digital transmission. I felt like I was truly using a gun, well at least a well designed and well built light gun, as I shot up all the enemies on screen.

So what is my final verdict? This is a must buy. Why? Well I can break it down into a few reasons. First off, you get Nyko’s Wand controller, which is a great replacement, or additional controller, for your Nintendo Wii. The Trans-Port technology is a great innovation and the button placement and design of the Wand is, in my opinion, better then what the standard Wii Remote has. Secondly, you also get the Pistol Grip, which is a great peripheral for light gun games, and when combined with the included Wand, makes for the best light gun on the Wii. Finally, both of these items, and the included sleeve, cost only $10 dollars more than the first party Wii Remote by itself making this a great value for anyone looking to make their games that much more immersive.

On a final note, and as I mentioned earlier, this review is being written during the same time that CES 2010 is going on. Nyko has announced the Wand+ at CES 2010 which should be in in about 2 ½ months or so (March). This is the same Wand I speak about in this review, but with the added benefit of the MotionPlus technology built in. We hope to gain access to this product as soon as we are able to in order to review it for all of you readers out there.